Daphne Clair - Edge Of Deception

Sholto’s eyelids flickered. She saw the material of his trousers tauten across his abdomen as he clenched his knuckles inside his pockets. ‘Meaning?’ he enquired tersely.

‘Meaning it’s more than you ever did! Do you patronise Averil the way you did me? Is it her brains or her body that attracted you? Or couldn’t you resist the idea of having your very own air hostess? I believe that’s a common male fantasy.’

His face had changed subtly at the mention of Averil’s name, almost as though she’d doused him in cold water. Was it possible that for a few minutes he’d forgotten about his fiancée?

‘What would you know about male fantasies?’ he jeered, but then he moved abruptly, taking his hands from his pockets. ‘Come on, it’s time I took you home. This conversation is getting out of hand.’

She couldn’t agree more, Tara thought, relief and reluctance warring inside her as she walked beside him to the stairs. It hadn’t been a comfortable conversation, but she’d felt the adrenaline singing in her veins. In an odd way she’d almost enjoyed skirmishing with Sholto, giving as good as she’d got. At least for a few minutes she’d felt truly, tinglingly alive.

HE TOOK HER HOME and saw her to the front porch, standing by as she fumbled for her key.

‘Thank you for the dinner,’ she said, pushing open the door. ‘And for...worrying about me.’

‘My pleasure,’ he said, ‘if a little mixed.’

Tara gave a soft laugh. ‘That goes for us both.’

‘I suppose so. Will you be all right now?’

‘Yes. I’ve hardly thought about the robbery all evening.’

‘Good.’ He hesitated a moment longer, and she wondered if he expected to be asked inside, but when she looked at him his eyes were focused on her mouth.

Tara blinked, her heart giving a hard thud against her ribs.

Then he was looking over her shoulder at the wall, saying in a strangely distant voice, ‘I’m glad to have taken your mind off it. Have a good night’s sleep.’

He turned and headed down the path.

* * *

ON SUNDAY he phoned. ‘Just to check that you’re okay,’ he said, still with that detached note in his voice. ‘No after-effects?’

‘None,’ Tara assured him crisply. The bruise on her cheek was coming out, going blue, but she wasn’t a shivering jelly of nerves. ‘I’m back to normal.’ Almost. Her main emotion in regard to the robbery was anger; she wasn’t going to allow a thug like that to have any long-term effect on her.

‘I’m glad to hear that,’ Sholto said formally.

‘Thanks for enquiring.’

‘Not at all.’ He sounded positively cool now. ‘Look after yourself.’

He had put down the phone before she could say any more.

* * *

SHOLTO must have been as good as his word. When Tara phoned the Herne Holdings warehouse on Monday morning and asked for Noel, she got a friendly greeting from a man who said he’d been expecting her call, and who failed to keep the curiosity out of his voice. ‘Sure,’ he said, when she asked for delivery of the goods she’d chosen. ‘No problem. They’ll be there this afternoon.’

When they arrived she arranged the cushions haphazardly in a corner, and placed some of the pearl shells with their trapped half-formed pearls on the two chests she’d moved into the window on Saturday. The single pearls went under the glass counter inside the door—it didn’t do to keep small, valuable trinkets where light fingers could easily transfer them to pocket or bag.

‘Nice,’ Tod commented, picking up one of the shells. ‘Where did you find them?’

‘Herne Holdings,’ she said briefly.

Tod, a rangy twenty-year-old whose olive skin proclaimed his part-Maori heritage and contrasted strikingly with light green eyes, pushed a long, glossy black curl off his forehead. She knew he thought it looked sexy, but he was forever shoving it away, torn between vanity and convenience. ‘They’re big importers, aren’t they?’

‘And exporters, yes.’

‘Didn’t know we dealt with them.’

‘We do now. At least we have, this once.’

Tod adjusted the brocade waistcoat he’d rescued from a box of assorted clothing and linen Tara had got for a song at auction, and checked that the rolled-up sleeves of his white silk shirt were at the right length for a look of casual elegance. ‘Thought they only supplied department stores and big furniture shops.’

Tara looked up from checking through her invoice book. ‘They seemed quite happy to supply me.’

Two customers wandered in, and Tod turned his attention to them. ‘Hi! Anything I can help you with?...Sure, you look around all you want, just give us a shout if you need information or anything, okay?’

He was a good salesman, not too pushy. She was lucky to have him, Tara thought. Sometimes a customer—usually an older woman—would string him along, asking questions, pretending to be interested in some purchase but unable to make up her mind, just to keep him dancing attendance because he was young and friendly and good-looking. When they left the shop he’d smile ruefully at Tara, and sometimes she’d tease him a little. Neither of them minded, really. There were a lot of lonely people in the world, and maybe another day the customer would come back and buy something.

Tod had been horrified at the news of the robbery, and bravely said that he wished he’d been there instead of Tara. ‘I’d have seen him off,’ he muttered darkly. ‘He wouldn’t have got me to open the safe.’

Tara tried to look impressed, biting her tongue. Mildly, she said, ‘If you are here and it happens again, I don’t want any heroics, Tod. Your life is more important than any amount of money. And that’s the boss talking, okay?’

‘Yeah, okay,’ he reluctantly agreed.

If nothing else, she thought, he could save face by referring to boss’s orders. Not, she hoped, that the situation would ever arise.

One of the pearls on a shell went that day, and two more on the next. ‘We should order some more,’ Tod said.

She’d contacted the woman who picked up shells, stones and bits of coloured glass washed up on beaches, combining them with gold or silver wire or chains to turn them into intriguing earrings, necklaces and bracelets. The craftswoman was thrilled at the idea of custom-made black pearl jewellery. ‘I’d love to try it,’ she said. ‘I could never afford to pay for the pearls myself.’

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